3 states hold key to control of Senate

Whether Democrats or Republicans control the US Senate in January rests on three states: Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

Democrats padded their narrow leads in key Arizona contests on Thursday, but the races for the Senate and governor were still too early to call with about a fifth of the total ballots left to be counted.

If the two parties split Arizona and Nevada, then a runoff in Georgia in December will decide control of the chamber.

As for the House of Representatives, the wait goes on as the votes are counted. But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has started gathering support for his bid to be the next speaker.

Even if Democrats manage to keep hold of the Senate, a Republican-controlled House could disrupt President Joe Biden's ambitious legislative agenda and presage a new era of gridlock.

Biden appeared on Thursday at a political event in Washington, where he praised the strong showing for Democrats. If Democrats win both Western states, the Georgia runoff on Dec 6 will decide if they continue controlling a 50-50 Senate with Vice-President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote.

Neither Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, nor his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, cleared the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright on Tuesday. Warnock had 49.6 percent of the vote to Walker's 48.3 percent, according to CNN.

On Thursday afternoon, Arizona GOP candidate for the Senate Blake Masters seemed to be hinting at a Republican plan to challenge the results. Masters was down five points to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly and will need about 60 percent of the uncounted votes to win.

In the race for the US Senate in Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt held a slight lead over Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, according to CNN.

But mail-in ballots still coming in from Clark County, home to Las Vegas, and Washoe County, where Reno sits, are trending for Cortez Masto by about 2 to 1, according to The New York Times.

In the race for Arizona governor, former television news anchor Kari Lake was about half a point behind Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. The Republican candidate for attorney general also trailed narrowly.

Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.